Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Title: Adventures in Babysitting
Pairing: MaesxRoy, hints of future RoyxEd
Rating: PG13 (language, mild sexual references)
Timeline: AU
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Roy Mustang has his work cut out for him when he takes a job babysitting the well-known and much-feared local hellions, otherwise known as the Elric brothers.
AN: This is a little shorter than the norm (though still 2500+ words) because I felt that this scene, which-at least in my mind-really solidifies the bond between Ed and Roy, deserved its own chapter.
Adventures in Babysitting
Chapter 24
Because Ed was still riding high from what he considered to be the best birthday ever, the school week that followed was somewhat tolerable. Almost nice. Bordering on good. Not even those snotty twin brats, Rose and Noa, could dampen his mood. And boy, did they try. But Ed was having none of it, and as an added bonus, he discovered that ignoring the girls agitated them far more than middle fingers and swear words. While he personally preferred middle fingers and swear words, he was also quite happy to have this new weapon in his arsenal to whip out whenever he felt like taking the high road. Which, he had to admit, probably wouldn't be very often.
By the time Friday rolled around, his high was starting to fade. The time had come for his automail to be replaced, and he liked the idea of that about as much as drinking a gallon of milk. Actually, he would have rather drank an entire gallon of milk than go through the ordeal that awaited him. Well... okay, maybe not. But it was going to suck nevertheless.
The only thing that made him feel better was knowing that Roy would be by his side during the procedure. The two of them had gotten along spectacularly the past week, which had contributed greatly to Ed's overall mood. Most of their evenings and nights had consisted of playing various board and card games, and Ed was even nice enough not to cheat. Much. (And he would have gotten away with it if not for that pesky little brother of his.) Perhaps there really was something to be said for not going out of his way to torment the teen. Of course he would continue to do so, but maybe not as much as before.
"How long will this take?" Roy asked as they walked the quarter of a mile it took to get to Pinako's house. It was slow going because Al kept getting distracted by random things along the way.
"About an hour, I think." Ed felt no need to divulge that it could possibly take longer depending on whether or not there were any complications, like that one time a couple of years ago when Pinako had had one hell of a time getting his automail leg to cooperate with his thigh muscles and he had briefly passed out from the pain of repeated attempts at attaching it. The last thing he wanted to do was say anything that might make Roy change his mind about going with him. He didn't think that would happen but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"That doesn't seem so bad." Roy looked over his shoulder at the child who had stopped at some point to investigate something on the ground. "Come on, Al. Keep up."
After picking up a rock that he found intriguing for reasons known only to him, Al sprinted to catch up with Ed and Roy. Ed was mildly annoyed by the way that the boy nudged his way between him and Roy, and even more so when Al took Roy by the hand as they continued their trek. He wanted to hold Roy's hand too, although the act would have had a far different—and much deeper—meaning for him. But alas, he was too mature for such things. Damn it all.
"Are you okay?" Roy asked, peering at Ed over Al's head. "Your face is pretty red."
Ed silently cursed the blush that crept into his cheeks at the thought of holding Roy's hand. "I'm fine," he insisted, scowling.
"You sure, Brother?" Al piped in. "Because your face is really, really red."
"I said I'm fine." Ed glanced at his clueless younger brother. "Show me your stupid rock," he said, trying to distract him.
His efforts paid off and he spent the next couple of minutes pretending to care about the rock that Al just had to have while his traveling companions talked about the possible reasons behind Waldo's desire to hide so much, which was apparently something that Al had contemplated often, silly and adorable thing that he was. By the time Ed handed it back, they had arrived at Pinako's house, where the old woman was waiting for them.
"Hello, boys." She took the pipe from her mouth and looked at Ed. "Are you ready?"
Ed shrugged and nodded. He thought the question a strange one. Was there ever truly a way to be fully prepared for having one's artificial limbs replaced?
"Here you go," Pinako said as she handed him a neatly folded hospital-style gown (the kind that fortunately wouldn't show off his bum).
Ed stared at Roy, who was temporarily held hostage by Al, Winry, and Al's rock. The teen noticed him and smiled, causing Ed's heart to flutter. He escaped to the bathroom before he was caught blushing once again. What the hell was his problem? Well, having a crush on the damn babysitter, that was his problem. He just wished that he could do a better job of hiding it.
After getting changed, Ed stepped out of the bathroom. He spotted Al and Winry sitting in front of the TV and graciously decided not to say something to embarrass his brother. Oh, but he would later when they were alone. It was interesting to him that Al could be so affectionate with Roy but always kept a respectable distance from the person he like-liked. Then again, Ed supposed that the situation was no different for him. He never went out of his way to be affectionate towards Roy but he never minded Winry's presence even if she was composed primarily of cooties (and not that sugar and spice bullshit that people said little girls were made of), except for the couple of times when she whacked him with a wrench because she was occasionally a jerk like that.
He made his way through the house, the tile floor cool against his right foot. When he reached the workshop, he found a now pipeless Pinako schooling Roy on the various implements she would be using to perform the limb replacement. Ed bit back a smile at the horrified look on the teen's face; this was old hat to him but he had to remember that this was all new to Roy. To anyone who didn't know better, the scene must have looked like something straight out of a horror movie.
"I'm ready," he announced.
"Let's get this show on the road," Pinako said. "Ed, get your butt on the bed. Roy, you can plop yourself down on the chair beside the bed and stay the hell out of my way."
Ed was glad that he had mastered the art of climbing into the hospital bed in lieu of needing a stool. He made himself as comfortable as he could on the cold, stiff bed and raised the rail on the left side in the event that he needed to grab onto something while fighting his way through the pain... and also to protect Roy from any accidental flailing. He blinked at Roy as the teen took a seat and felt a stab of guilt over the uncertainty he saw.
"Are you sorry I asked you to be with me?" he inquired shyly.
"No," Roy replied with a fierce shake of the head. "Not one bit. Just... tell me what to do, Ed. To help you through this."
Ed had thought that he couldn't possibly adore Roy more than he already did. He was wrong.
"Talk to me," he said as Pinako rolled up the right sleeve of his gown until his shoulder was fully exposed.
"That's it?"
Ed nodded. "That's it."
"About what?"
"Anything. Just talk."
As Pinako went to work, Roy started with tales of his own past school week. Ed couldn't help but notice that the young man was going out of his way to keep a certain boyfriend's name out of the conversation. He tried to keep his expression even as that old familiar feeling of pressure in his neck and chest—a precursor to the pain—became stronger.
"High school sounds pretty bor—nnngh!"
Ed clenched his teeth as a bolt of pain raced up his neck and over his upper chest. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to by now but it still hurt like a son of a bitch.
"How are you doing, Ed?" Pinako asked.
"I'm okay." Ed looked to Roy, who looked anything but. "Roy?"
"I'm... I'm okay, too." The teen ran a shaky hand through his hair and gave his best imitation of a smile. "Wh-Where was I?"
"History class. You were talking about your friend, Shasta."
"Sheska," Roy corrected, trying his damnedest not to stare at whatever Pinako was doing that had caused Ed to break into a sweat.
He continued talking about his pals, Shas—Sheska, Riza, and Jean, the guy Ed and Al had had so much fun abusing at the park. And he was doing a fair job of it until Pinako wrenched Ed's automail arm from the port, causing him to yelp suddenly.
"Ed?"
"Keep talking," the child insisted. "What do you do with your friends when you're not at school?"
But Roy was too distracted by the sight of Ed's arm to speak. Ed was curious if he still thought it was as cool as he had claimed when they first met.
He tried again. "Roy?"
"Oh, sorry." Roy cleared his throat. "We do, you know, stuff."
"Like what?"
"Play video games, eat pizza, drink b—soda, that kind of thing."
"All right, Ed, new arm's going in," Pinako warned.
Ed grabbed onto the bed rail with his left hand. Even in his present state, he was amused to see that he wasn't the only one holding onto it for dear life. But his amusement soon gave way to another sharp yelp as his new automail arm was shoved into place. He closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh, and then rejoiced despite the pain when cool—though slightly trembling—digits swept across his forehead, wiping away the sweat.
After Pinako was done, she instructed him to wiggle his fingers. He was half-tempted to flip her the bird but knew better than to piss her off. Instead, he moved his fingers and flexed at the elbow. It was going to be a while before he could do anything more than that.
"Easy part's done," she said, satisfied with his actions.
Roy gawked at the elderly woman. "That was the easy part?"
"His port didn't need to be replaced this time," she explained. "That tends to be... a little trickier."
"A little, my ass," Ed muttered.
"You watch your goddamn mouth," Pinako barked, though the reprimand was offset by a grandmotherly pat on the chest.
As she moved to the foot of the bed to deal with his automail leg, Ed stared at Roy, who looked positively sick to his stomach. "Still not sorry?"
Roy brushed away a bead of sweat that threatened to roll down Ed's temple. "Still not sorry," he replied softly.
Ed wondered, though, if Roy might have changed his mind when he saw how Pinako strapped Ed's thighs to the bed. "It's to keep my legs from moving around too much," he told him.
"I figured, but still..."
The conversation turned to Transformers. Ed told Roy just how much he was enjoying his new Omega Supreme and that he played with it every day before Roy came over. He had even allowed Al to play with it. Once. For about a minute. Rather generous, as far as Ed was concerned.
"I don't know how I'm going to top that next year," Roy said.
"You'll think of some—"
Ed didn't just yelp this time. He screamed. His body jerked and jolted as Pinako carefully detached flesh from metal, which caused his new arm to twist in the port and heighten the pain. He was vaguely aware of Roy calling his name repeatedly, and his eyes began to sting with the threat of tears. Ed's leg felt like it was being ripped apart, and it hurt like a hundred kinds of hell, but he would not cry, not if he could help it. Not in front of Roy.
"Optimus Prime!" he shouted suddenly, catching Roy off guard.
"... What?"
"Get... me... Optimus... Prime."
Ed winced and cringed as his automail leg was removed. He fell back against the bed with no recollection of having raised his body off of it and let out a long, shuddering breath. Nor did he have any idea when Roy had cradled his face in his hands to distract him. His body may have been in pain, but his heart was overjoyed.
"You already have an Optimus Prime," Roy pointed out.
Ed shook his head. "You have it."
"Oh yeah."
Ed surrendered any hope he had of maintaining his composure when Pinako began attaching his new leg. Every fiber of leg muscle, every single nerve, his entire body felt like it was on fire. While he still managed, miraculously, not to cry in front of Roy, he was now at the point where he was also praying like hell that he wouldn't throw up all over him. As much as he wanted to be comforted by Roy's soothing words and gestures, there was nothing that the teenager could do to alleviate the enormity of the agony that consumed him.
After what felt like forever, Pinako was finally finished. Ed closed his eyes, causing a single tear to roll down the side of his face, but he was too busy trying to cling to his waning consciousness to care. He could hear Pinako speaking quietly to Roy before leaving the room and soon after felt a cold, wet cloth swiping at his face. It felt good. It felt...
Sometime later, Ed opened his eyes. His throat was sore from screaming, his poor body still ached, and the test wiggle he gave his new automail toes didn't help matters. But the worst, thankfully, was over. With any luck, it would be at least another year before he had to go through this again. Ed usually hated being a slow grower, but at times like these, it was much to his advantage.
He heard the hitching of breath and looked to his left. What he saw pained him far more than anything he had just experienced.
Roy was crying.
"Roy?"
"I'm okay," Roy said, wiping furiously at his eyes.
"No you're not," Ed replied, golden eyes wide and worried. "Why are you crying?"
"Because you were in pain and I couldn't do anything to make it stop." Roy pinched the bridge of his nose, his brow creased in a frown that made him look considerably older. "It makes me sad to see you hurting so much."
Ed bit his bottom lip, which had begun to quiver. The stinging in his eyes was back, and he blinked away his own tears as best he could. "Well," he began, his voice unsteady. "It makes me sad to see you sad so stop it."
Roy chuckled through his tears at the demand. "I'll try."
"Will you stay here with me?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Roy promised.
Ed closed his eyes again; keeping them open right now was hard work. He kept them closed, even when a hand covered his and held it tightly. He had gotten his wish, after all.
And in that one blissful moment, Ed knew in his heart that he would never love anyone as much as he loved Roy Mustang.
TBC
